Truck Tire Bounces Into Oncoming Traffic, Injuring Two in Fort Lee

Two people were injured on the New Jersey Turnpike in Fort Lee Wednesday morning, when a tractor-trailer lost a tire, which then bounced across the center divider and hit two oncoming vehicles, state police said.

The incident, which occurred at about 7:15 a.m. Wednesday near the Route 46 overpass in Fort Lee, resulted in two “relatively minor injuries considering what could have happened,” said state police spokesman Lt. Stephen Jones.

“We had two people complaining of head and neck pain,” Jones said, adding that the victims were taken to Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

“Essentially what happened is the tractor-trailer that lost the tire was in the southbound express lanes,” Jones said. “The vehicles that were struck were both in the local lanes and the express lanes going northbound. The tire must have kind of bounced across the center and into the oncoming vehicles.”

The occupants of a box truck, which sustained a broken windshield, were the ones who were injured, Jones said, adding that the tire also hit a Subaru Legacy, which likely sustained minor damage.

It was unknown whether anyone in the Subaru was injured, Jones said.

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